“If any man says he hates war more than I do, he better have a knife, that’s all I have to say.”
- Jack Handey

If offered an app both natively and through the browser—with the same attention to detail given to both—people readily choose the native option. Why?

Amid passionate discourse from all sides of the issue, I couldn’t find a single explanation for why people prefer native apps.

As I’ve talked to my industry friends, most have expressed the same sentiment about using browser-based apps that I feel, every time I go to use one. There is some kind of emotional or mental barrier that makes a browser app feel harder to use.

Then it occurred to me. There is no single explanation. The reason browser apps lose this fight is because of a raft of small things. It’s death by a thousand cuts. But what is doing the dying in this overwrought metaphor? Well, I’ll get to that in a minute. First, let’s run through just a few of the cuts you get with a browser app.

Slice and Dice

Reliability - To the user, the UI is the app. When you switch to a native app, there’s no UI middleman to fail you. You may still have data problems if your native app is connected to the web, but the UI is there instantly. No waiting for uncached resources or CDN-hosted files to load. From the user’s perspective, they never see the chrome of the UI loading in. The app is just reliably there.

Class Warfare - One of the things an OS does so well is that it ties a slew of disparate apps and experiences together seamlessly. You get built-in app switching with keystrokes, access to the global system menu, notifications, etc. A native app feels native because it’s a first-class citizen in an ecosystem and flow that you’re used to. When you switch to a browser app, you’re entering a world of abstraction. And nothing works exactly the way you expect. This context switch is better on iOS, but it’s still there, in dozens of subtle ways that you run into when you try to do some things you take for granted in native apps.

Context Switching - When making the context switch to a browser app (especially on a desktop OS), it’s a lot like using an app in a virtual pc environment. Instead of being a step away, it’s two steps away. That may not seem like a lot, but it’s double what you’re used to. And it’s three steps away if you have to figure out which tab your app is running in. Also, much like a virtual machine, the performance you expect is just not there. In a browser app it’s worse because much of the processing is taken somewhere else along with your control (or perception of it, anyway).

Sessions - One of the biggest issues for me with browser apps is the ubiquitous problem with sessions. If you haven’t used a browser app in a while, the instant you make that context switch, you could be faced with an authentication wall. Then you either have to consult your keychain app (which can be extra painful on iOS) or you have to consciously remember your login credentials. Either way, an onerous cognitive load has just been placed on you. By contrast, a native app gets OS-level security that doesn't require this. When you launch it, it’s there. Logged-in, ready to go. Unless one deletes the native app, they only see the login screen once. And considering that the login/signup screen presents the worst user experience that people usually ever have, this—alone—is a huge win.

Notifications - browser apps are always pull, rarely push. In iOS, you get the benefit of system-level notifications for your app. With a browser app, the best you’re going to get is an email or sms, etc. This may be different on Android, but it’s certainly the case on iOS.

Cache - With a browser app, you get a monolithic cache that can be destroyed. That means that unless you’re using Fluid (you should be), clearing your cache in browser is like a rainforest slash and burn.

Hockey Metaphors - When I’ve discussed the issues around performance with advocates of browser-based apps, they always reassure me that the technology has finally caught up. But as I see it, this is never not going to be a problem. Developers will always be pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with apps and they will always need those apps to have access to the most amount of performance, even if it’s only for making the experience delightful. Because of this, browser apps will always be skating to where the puck used to be.

Reliably Unreliable

Trust. It’s trust that’s doing the dying here. I believe that when you go to a web app, your trust is undermined by the potential for any of the items mentioned above to happen. Someone could build the most amazing web app ever and they’d be battling our history with hundreds of other web apps that have let us down.

We’ve been conditioned for web apps to suck.

Conversely, people have also been conditioned by the fantastic experience of the App Store. They know that they can go there and find something they need, see reviews on it, get a modicum of confidence and download it the way they're used to. Anything outside this is now alien. People have learned to trust the App Store “Way of Things.” And they’ve learned that the apps they download from the App Store are not just easy to use, but delightful and fast and just “there.” In fact, people now take this all for granted. And none of that is just granted with a browser app.

Power to the People

Ultimately my biggest qualm with most arguments for building browser-only apps is that they seem to come from the perspective of what’s best for the DEVELOPER. When an organization is making the decision not to spend developer money on building native, what they’re saying to me is that they value development costs over customer experience. I believe to do it right, you should offer your app in the way people want to use it the most. That may mean doing it browser-only, but it usually doesn't. A business will always benefit from giving their customers a great (or insanely great) experience.

Kindling

By writing this, it may seem like I’m taking sides in a flamewar. We love taking sides, don’t we? There is something very safe and reassuring about making a decision and joining our tribe of choice. We do it in politics, in religion, and certainly in technology. The debates over which programming language is the best are as old as our industry. So it’s no surprise that there are two distinct tribes out there pushing for their platform of choice: Native or Web.

Mysterious Trousers has always advocated the use of both browser and native apps. Web apps are actually our first love and we are able to clearly see both sides of the issue. There is a place for both. But as a business, we’re going to do what makes the best possible experience for the customer. Right now, that happens to be native first.

I may be wrong, but it seems like the voices of the browser tribe have quieted a bit in the last year. This is probably because so many companies are seeing the value in living happily in both camps. They’re practical businesses, making a practical choice.

Go to where the people are.

]]>Take Your App to ElevenFosterFri, 03 May 2013 20:18:32 +0000http://mysterioustrousers.com/news/2013/5/3/take-your-app-to-eleven5104d06ce4b0886bfa1f1b13:5104d06ce4b0886bfa1f1b18:51841ba3e4b099d36ddbb7bfIn the interest of keeping it real, we built a little library for iOS devs that makes it easy to add a small visceral punch to your app. We hope you find it useful. We already have.

All of us have experienced the unique sensation of having our guts move from their normal resting positions. Whether from a roller coaster or a dive into a pool, it’s a shared human experience. In fact, as humans, we go to great lengths to feel extreme versions of kinetic energy and the exhilaration it provides.

The term "visceral" describes this sensation pretty well. Visceral refers to the gut, rather than the mind. Our brain may try to talk us out of jumping off a cliff, but as soon as we take that first step into the void, our guts take over. We respond with a rush of emotion and we can’t help but scream from terror or euphoria. It’s a purely visceral reaction.

That’s Telekinesis, Kyle

As humans, we also innately enjoy the release of built-up pressure. From a sheet of large bubble wrap, to the cracking of knuckles to sneezing. We can’t help but love the release of pressure and energy.

Our human affinity for this build-up and release also manifests itself in the way we relate to things outside of our body. We like explosions, videos of people being hurled into space and we can’t help but slow down to see the result of a car crash on the freeway. And when we were kids, we built a tower of blocks only so we could knock it down again.

Whether it’s happening to us or we’re just bystanders, as humans, we are captivated with the interplay between the build-up and the release; between potential and kinetic energy. And as app developers, we can leverage this interplay to enhance our apps.

It’s Got Beautiful Plumage

Angry Birds. Angry. Freaking. Birds. To me, it’s no surprise that this avian juggernaut is arguably the most successful mobile game ever. This game talks directly to the gut. It has everything we love in a visceral experience. It has the build up and release of pressure, the interplay between potential and kinetic energy and wanton destruction.

But Angry Birds isn’t the only example of this. When you look at some of the most popular software user experiences in recent years, you'll see a visceral pattern emerge.

Virtual Bubble Wrap

We take it for granted now, but when the iPhone first came out, the bounce at the end of a scroll pane was mesmerizing. I couldn’t stop playing with it. Heck, it was unique enough that Steve Jobs patented it.

A few years later Loren Brichter would take that initial rubber band interaction and make it even more visceral with “pull to refresh.” This is an action so deeply satisfying that it was copied endlessly and eventually adopted by Apple itself.

When the video for Clear came out, everyone talked about how beautifully minimalist it was and how incredible the gestures were. And while that’s all true, I believe that’s not what makes Clear so insanely satisfying. Just take a few seconds and watch the intro video again. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Man, if that isn't just a visceral app at its finest. It’s got build-up and release. It’s got destruction. It’s got the kinetic and the potential.

Ok, last example. Path is another gorgeous app. It’s visually stunning, it’s elegant, it’s the epitome of sweating the details. It was one of the first apps to really capitalize on the slide-out-from-the-edge menu. It has this rad little clock whose arms spin as you scroll. It has parallax. But even with all that, when everyone was talking about it, they kept mentioning the same thing. That slick little red plus menu in the corner. If you’ve used it, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Here’s a video if you don’t.

People love that menu. Everyone I know that has ever used Path loves that menu. It’s their favorite part of the whole experience.

I believe it’s because the “springy” animation creates a small visceral reaction in our gut. We see the result of built-up pressure in the way the icons spring out and settle into place. Tapping that icon actually releases endorphins.

All of the apps mentioned above exhibit that same kinetic/potential interplay. They’re the UX version of bubble wrap.

Ain’t That a Kick in the Head

For the past few years, I’ve been watching the buzz around various products and trying to figure out just what it was that made them so tantalizing. Obviously, great UI and beautiful graphics are important. The use of white space, typography and functionality are all critical. Great apps also have great attention to detail. It’s important to really nail each of these things.

But in addition to all this, there has been this intangible element I couldn’t put my finger on, until now.

So here’s my theory: I believe that introducing visceral elements into an app will take it past the point of just being awesome. It will make your app speak to the subconscious, built-in affinity that humans have for the physical properties I mentioned before. I believe that even if you designed the most perfect and useful app possible, that the act of adding in these visceral elements will make people love your app on an even deeper level.

I’ve heard people describe certain apps as being “alive” and I think this is precisely what they meant. Potential and kinetic. Build-up and release.

Mmmmmmm, endorphins.

Sound and Fury

Here are a couple of things to think about with regard to visceral apps…

I believe that the use of sound effects can enhance the visceral reaction, as long as they are subtle and can be turned off when needed. Think about bubble wrap. It’s great without sound, but the little pop makes it a hundred times better. In fact, we’re disappointed when the air rushes out rather than making that satisfying snap.

Also, if you can’t make the animation fluid for customers, it might be better not to use them at all. When the first Android phones came out, I read a slew of articles maligning the choppy scrolling animation (which they still haven’t really fixed yet). In contrast, Apple may not have nailed every interaction on the first version of the iPhone, but they certainly nailed this. The scrolling and its little bounce at the end was as smooth as butter from day one. I believe that by incorporating visceral elements and then failing to make them work actually has a subconscious effect in the other direction. It becomes a turn-off for people.

Wherein I Conclude

The great thing about this is that it can be applied to the off-the-shelf components as well as to fancy-schmancy custom ones. Heck, even with JavaScript, easing and other physical elements are relatively easy to apply. People want their bubble wrap, or to be more precise, their guts want it. And guts are hard to argue with.

Have fun out there folks and use your powers for awesome.

]]>Empathetic DesignFosterFri, 01 Mar 2013 18:13:35 +0000http://mysterioustrousers.com/news/2013/3/1/empathetic-design5104d06ce4b0886bfa1f1b13:5104d06ce4b0886bfa1f1b18:5130f000e4b07c6e60bd3b70I just recently happened to catch this video and its accompanying article on the Steelcase website. The video is a 60 Minutes piece on three things that I really like: Steelcase, IDEO (and David Kelley), and Steve Jobs.

It’s worth a view. The Node chair is a pretty great design for classrooms. I test drove one a few months back and was immediately impressed by how comfortable it was. In fact, everything about it screamed “we thought through all of this.” From the way the desk swivels out of the way, to the quality of the materials and the way the back flexes under the right pressure.

Steelcase makes my favorite desk chair and I’ve loved their products for a long time. But this was the first time I had a look into the design behind their products and the first time I realized they used outside firms to help with the design of their products. But I digress.

David Kelley said one thing in the video that really stuck with me. He used the term “empathetic design” to talk about their approach to products and I really liked that.

A few years ago, I wrote an article called “Accessibility to the Face” about the challenges of design thinking with regard to people with disabilities. In the article I made the case that “accessibility” isn’t the point. The point is understanding the customer/user/person who will be using your service or product. Stepping into their shoes, so to speak.

I love David’s term for this because it totally boils this whole way of thinking into a single concept.

It’s not about accessibility, or usability or even “user experience.” I mean, it is eventually, but to really get at the heart of what makes a great experience or product, you have to first empathize with the person who uses it.

I realize this isn’t a new concept. Many people have written about having empathy for the user, but I rarely hear that term. It was good to have a reminder of it and a great way to describe how to talk about design thinking.

I wanted to give folks an update on where we are at with our products.

Calvetica

First of all, we’re very aware of the bugs that a portion of our users have been experiencing with Calvetica. We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and are working to find a fix. In the next update, we’ll be adding support for HockeyApp which will allow us to collect better crash reports in the future. This will make it possible for us to anticipate problems before they get out of hand. Customers often report bugs that end up being simple configuration issues or problems with their updates. Because of this, in the past, it was difficult to tell when there was a real problem until a lot of folks started reporting at once. This meant that our fix was delayed for a week or two until we saw the trend. HockeyApp will help us to get that info a lot quicker. Thanks for your patience with us while we work through this. Believe us when we say it’s as frustrating for us as it is for you. We genuinely care about our customers and besides, we use Calvetica everyday too.

Loose Pants

On the bright side, Loose Pants has already been a nice little success for us. People seem to love it, Apple has featured it on the App Store and a couple of days ago, it actually outsold Calvetica for a few hours. We’re glad people are enjoying it and plan on some nice updates in the future.

Firehose

Probably the biggest news for us right now is Firehose. If you haven’t already heard, Firehose is a new version of the help desk app we built and have been using internally for a year. We originally released it as "YaySupport" and we’ve enjoyed using it so much that we wanted to get serious about it. The backend for Firehose is all done and we’re about two weeks out from being done with the iOS app. The Mac app will be out very soon after that.

We’ve been asked many times by folks why we choose the apps we do. We’re really about scratching our own itch here and we build apps that we want to use. That makes it so we care as much about our apps as you do.

Tempus and Dialvetica

Both of these apps are humming right along. We haven’t seen many bug reports on either of them and we’ve fixed the ones we’ve seen. Neither of these apps are huge cash cows but we still love them. As soon as Firehose is out the door, we’ll be jumping back on Dialvetica with a brand new version and Tempus will likely get some love as well.

Our Newsletter

We’ve wanted to do an email newsletter for a while and even solicited signups for it last year. But the fact is, we don’t like harassing our customers with emails and notices that they don’t want.

So, what we’d like to know is, what would you like to know? We have some ideas but we want to talk about the things you’re interested in hearing.

So, if you don’t mind, please take a second and fill out this one field survey. And if you don’t ever care to get an email newsletter from us, we want to know that too.

Here’s the survey. Thanks for your feedback and we appreciate you being a customer and fan of what we do here.

]]>Richard Branson Chimes InFosterTue, 26 Feb 2013 14:56:54 +0000http://mysterioustrousers.com/news/2013/2/26/richard-branson-chimes-in5104d06ce4b0886bfa1f1b13:5104d06ce4b0886bfa1f1b18:512ccd42e4b09977737be73dLooks like Richard Branson has joined the list of folks who are disappointed with Yahoo’s new stance on remote work.

Yahoo is in dire straights and I would think the last thing they should be doing right now is making themselves less competitive.

I mean, think of what might have happened if they had encouraged the people building their products to go remote. I would hope that Yahoo still has some “A” players around and I know they would want to add more to their team. This is one place they could have been truly innovative. They could have actually gone against the trend in Silicon Valley. They might have picked up some top talent that wasn’t interested in moving to the Valley.

Easy pickin’s

I’ll be the first to admit that taking shots at the traditional business office is low hanging fruit. It’s easy to criticize an entrenched system which has already been parodied and satirized for years. I think most tech workers acknowledge the deficiencies. We already ridicule the cubicle, the middle manager, the processes.

I want to put that all aside now and talk about what makes remote truly great. Remote work has huge benefits, not just to the employee but to the company as well. This may sound idealistic, but I truly believe there is a revolution already on its way to the traditional office. And the sooner companies realize it, the more likely they will stay competitive in the coming years.

I owe Ryan Tomayko from GitHub for enumerating some of the following points so beautifully. If you haven’t watched this video, you should.

The archive

When a company has remote employees, it’s almost imperative that they have one place to go to capture knowledge. Tools like Kickoff, Campfire and others become the organizational memory and makes it easy for anyone–especially new employees–to get up to speed quickly. Sidebars become less common and meetings are simply less interesting. At Mysterious Trousers, we’ve tried a bevy of these and found the tools with integrated chat to be superior to simple task managers. But the key is this: When a company embraces the notion of remote, even when some of the team is co-located, you get the benefit of having all of the company knowledge in one place.

Asynchronicity

When a company goes remote, they also enable asynchronous communication. Using the tools mentioned above makes it easy for people to be in any time zone and still be able to be tapped in to what’s happening at work. Work hours become a thing of the past and so do meetings for the most part. Our excellent tech support department (Katie) lives on a far away island in a different time zone as the rest of us. And yet in Kickoff, it FEELS like she’s here. She works when she wants and spends the rest of the time on the beach. And yes, we’re all very jealous. Another great thing about this is that people are less likely to be interrupted in their work by sidebars. Even using chat, you can respond when you want. Which brings me to my next point.

Flow

I consider flow to be one of the most valuable things in my day. When you’re in a state of flow, it feels almost superheroic. In fact, I’m in a state of flow right now as I write. When I worked in an office, flow felt like the Loch Ness Monster. People talked about it, there were blurry photos of it, but I’d never seen it myself. Now that I work remote, flow is the norm. I cannot overstate how important remote work is to getting into this state and staying there. If you own a company, do whatever you have to in order to protect flow.

Talent

I believe this is going to be one of the major factors to the office revolution. Once companies realize that their talent pool has gone remote, they will be forced to embrace the change. As an employee, once you’ve had the blessing of working remotely and enjoying flow on regular basis, you never want to go back. You’ll start looking for companies who support this way of working.

Balance

Finally, the most obvious advantage to the employee is being able to have work-life balance. Being able to work when and where you want/need opens up all kinds of possibilities. I’ve been able to successfully work while looking out the window of a rented R.V. at Monument Valley vistas. I did that because my wife and I wanted more time at the national parks and didn’t want the travel time to steal from the camping time. So I worked while she drove. I took breaks and had lunch with the kids. It was life-changing.

Caveats

Of course, all of the things I mentioned can be used for evil. Just because a company embraces remote, doesn't mean that everything is perfect. Work-life balance can be abused and you could be worse off. But companies that abuse it will once again be at a competitive disadvantge.

Of course, remote isn’t for everyone and it’s not for every company. Some people like getting away from their home life to work. Some value the camaraderie of the office. Some work better in an office environment. But all of those things can be done without the traditional office. It may mean getting together to work at a rented or public space but the concept of remote still has to be there for that possibility to be kosher.

Hope is not a four-letter word

I hope that I’m right. I hope that there’s a revolution coming. The tech industry is the perfect place for it to happen and the rest of the office world would not be far behind. The office as we know it is a dinosaur and natural selection needs to do its thing. We live in an information age and it’s time for us to work there too.

Last year I chatted with two different people working at startups in Silicon Valley. When the subject of remote work came up, they were both adamant that things move too quickly for remote team to be effective in a startup.

Of course, they aren’t the only ones saying this. I’ve heard the same arguments from the industry for many years.

Here’s a list of the most common arguments and how we address each one at Mysterious Trousers.

It takes longer to do things

The argument is that instead of just telling the person, you have to type it all out. This is true but it also works as an advantage. If you’re documenting something, it helps to compose your thoughts and to make sure it’s clear enough for someone else to read. Sometimes verbal instruction can actually be hazier. In the event where more elaboration is needed, we use Skype or the phone to talk through it.

You miss out on non-verbal communication

You do miss out on body language but the flip-side to it is that you also don’t get distracted by other things happening in the room. We actually believe video chat is a red herring in the tech industry and only serves as a distraction in virtual meetings. In our experience, we get MORE focus by using only voice and screenshots along with whiteboard software to communicate.

You lose the informal discussions

You miss out on the sidebar discussions in the hall, breakroom, at peoples’ desks, etc. This is the one I hear the most. But the assumption here is that you can’t have spontaneous conversation via IM, Skype, etc. We use a software tool called Kickoff which is actually great at capturing and encouraging "water cooler" conversations. But more than that, because most of the chatting happens in Kickoff’s public chat, EVERYONE gets the benefit of the sidebar. In addition, we get the huge benefit of FLOW.

You can’t create culture

I actually believe the word “culture” is overused in conversations about remote work. Culture is whatever you want it to be. Mysterious Trousers has a culture of working with amazing people and getting out of their way so they can do rad stuff. We also have a culture that enables people to be home with their families. Is that typical to most startups? Maybe not. But it works for us. Furthermore, as a team we all get to know each other through Kickoff and Skype and if we want to, we can always schedule a get-together.

You can’t move fast enough

This is another prevailing argument. It’s certainly the one I hear most from Palo Alto. There are very few firms in Silicon Valley that do remote and this is the reason they give. But there are plenty of firms who are remote and do work quickly. 37Signals is the obvious example, but there are others , and this trend is only growing.

In which I use the only French I know

All of these seem to be variations of this theme: There’s a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ of being in an office together that you lose when you go remote. But I think a lot of the fear about remote work is really about control and management. Those are two things which become very important if you don’t hire people who are intrinsically motivated.

In my opinion, it really comes down to this: Hire amazing people, find tools that enable remote communication and let go of the fear, uncertainty and doubt.

"Hovering" managers isn't a new concept. Image found on http://historicalphotosblog.com.

“The whole modern office building is pretty much just a skeuomorphic version of the industrial revolution factory.”
@johndilworth

A brief history

Before the Industrial Revolution, production work was done by specialists in their homes. Regarded as a "putting-out system," the people doing that work were craftsmen and were paid based on the quality of their work.

When the Industrial Revolution happened, the putting-out system was considered inefficient and wasteful. Instead of focusing on craftsmanship, work was itemized and many workers were brought into central factories where their piecemeal work could be monitored and controlled, all in the name of speed. During this new kind of manufactured work, time really was money. Every second counted. Managers and supervisors were there to make sure the workers were efficient.

Manufacturing discontent

Now we live in a post-industrial society. Most of the work done in office buildings is decidedly not manufacturing. When you consider the people in offices who actually produce products or services, they resemble craftsman, not workers in an assembly line.

So why are we still traveling to a central location to get this kind of work done? Many people argue that it’s for collaboration (I’ll get to that in a later post). But the reality is that our modern offices are relics. They’re holdouts from the days when workers were thought of cogs in the machine. And much of the language and culture of the factory still impacts our office work.

If it talks like a duck

If you work in the tech industry, just consider the following terms, lifted directly from the Industrial Revolution: Workstation, efficiency, monitor, supervisor, manager, production, accountability, lean, alignment, quality assurance, bottleneck, breakroom, etc. In fact, with the rise of lean startup principles, we’re STILL stealing concepts from manufacturing. And while some of these concepts and ideas may be instructive, the work we do still resembles craft more than assembly.

What’s most amusing to me is the way that office culture keeps pushing to feel more like home. From ping-pong tables to beanbag rooms, from kitchens to gyms, the offices that are considered cool are those that resemble a dorm. And don’t get me started on cubicles. Oh ok, just a quick aside.

Cubicles were designed at Herman Miller, initially under the direction of George Nelson. They eventually became Herman Miller's most successful product. However, George disagreed with and eventually distanced himself from the project. Here’s what he had to say about cubicles:

“One does not have to be an especially perceptive critic to realize that AO II is definitely not a system which produces an environment gratifying for people in general. But it is admirable for planners looking for ways of cramming in a maximum number of bodies, for ‘employees’ (as against individuals), for ‘personnel,’ corporate zombies, the walking dead, the silent majority. A large market.”

Skeuomorphic is a long word

These are a few quick examples, but there’s so much more to this comparison than I’m willing to bore you with right now. Just know that when you step into an office building, you’re stepping into obsolescence.

A couple of weeks ago, I broke a long streak. I finally met one of our team members in person when I dropped off a new Mysterious Trousers t-shirt. Until then, he’d been working with us for a year and a half and I had never seen him. In fact, my only idea of what he looked like was from his Twitter avatar.

I’ve taken great pride in the fact that our small company is 100% remote. And I found tremendous satisfaction in telling people that we worked with people on our team for years without ever really “meeting” them.

37Signals just announced that they’re about to release a book about remote work and the Stack Overflow team has been talking a lot about it. I'm feeling optimistic that maybe this thing will actually become a thing.

If you’re starting a company or have any sway at all with your current employer, do whatever you have to to make them go remote, at least for part of the time. I’ll be talking more about it in the coming days and how we do it at Mysterious Trousers. We'd love to have you join the discussion.

]]>An all-new Mysterious TrousersFosterSun, 10 Feb 2013 08:34:53 +0000http://mysterioustrousers.com/news/2013/2/10/an-all-new-mysterious-trousers5104d06ce4b0886bfa1f1b13:5104d06ce4b0886bfa1f1b18:51175ab6e4b04c436edb9dffWell we’re kicking the tires on a brand new site and an all new product roadmap. The roadmap includes a big new product, an upgrade plan for all our existing apps, and a rad team that will help us build all this cool new stuff.

2013 is turning out to be the biggest year yet for our small company and we can’t wait to show you more. Stay tuned.

]]>Loose PantsFosterSun, 10 Feb 2013 08:30:57 +0000http://mysterioustrousers.com/news/2013/2/10/loose-pants5104d06ce4b0886bfa1f1b13:5104d06ce4b0886bfa1f1b18:51175acbe4b0cd4cc717b3e6We just launched an all-new app to help those who like to track their “healthfulness.” We’re calling it “Loose Pants” and it helps you track weight, body fat, calorie intake and exercise. And it does it while looking great because no one likes an ugly app stinkin’ up the joint. Amirite?